Read to the end to take a ride in the beatmobile…
In today’s edition:
- GoDaddy throws down a cool half-million in support of the WordPress community.
- Post Status is turning into a Dutch nonprofit and folks are pretty happy about it.
- The internet has finally decided on the correct pronunciation of GIF.
Hot Off The Presses: What’s New?
Hope you’re all having a lovely January 76th! This meme pretty much sums it up:
But anyway, here’s what’s been happening so far this year:
Woah Daddy! 
GoDaddy (or maybe we should say SugarDaddy) recently announced that they’ve donated $520,000 to support the WP Community Collective, an initiative that focuses on funding and empowering WordPress contributors.
According to the GoDaddy press release, the donation will help finance the collective’s “programs and partnerships that strengthen open-source communities, drive innovation and promote collaboration.”
GoDaddy employs two full-time developers, Kira Schroder and George Mamadashvili, who work exclusively on WordPress core development. They also support 46 contributors, dedicating 255 hours per week to WordPress across 17 teams.
WPCC President Sé Reed said the significant boost in funds will help them launch more sustainable paid Fellowship opportunities, which means more folks can dedicate their time and expertise to building WordPress. This is exactly along the lines of what Ryan McCue suggested in his blog post back in October, “A Stronger Foundation for the Ecosystem.”
If you wanna join in and donate to the collective too, you can sign up here. (Don’t worry, memberships start at $5 in case you don’t have an extra half-a-mill lying around. 
)
New Core Interface, Who Dis?
As you may have already noticed, the WordPress.com user interface went through a bit of a switcheroo last week.
We’re all familiar with the custom “Calypso” interface for logged-in WordPress.com users, but according to the blog post about the change, having two different interfaces between .org and .com was becoming “increasingly challenging.”
So, all WordPress.com users were transitioned to the standard wp-admin .org interface, with the promise that they’ll “enjoy a consistent and intuitive experience no matter where you WordPress.”
The feedback? It’s uh… not been entirely enthusiastic. Some were onboard with the change, but in the post comments, many complained about the abrupt shift and said they had found Calypso more efficient and easier to use.
The phrase, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” was used more than once. 
What do you think about the change? Do you like it? Or do you think it only makes things easier for the WordPress team without taking into account the needs of the users? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Post Status Gets a Status Update
Yoast SEO Founders Joost de Valk and Marieke van de Rakt have announced that they’ve acquired Post Status, the popular WordPress business community. They’ll be turning it into a Dutch nonprofit foundation, which means it’ll be covered by the country’s robust privacy protections and legal system.
With a Slack channel over 1700 members strong, an active job board and a weekly newsletter, Post Status has grown to become an important part of the WordPress ecosystem since it was founded in 2013 by Brian Krogsgard.
Joost de Valk announced on the Slack channel that the membership fee would be reduced, taking advantage of Slack’s 85% discount to nonprofits.
Tia Wood, Founder of TheWPGirls.com, writes, “So happy the de Valks have purchased Post Status and are turning it into a nonprofit. You guys are awesome Joost & Marieke. Congratulations to everyone involved.”
Developer and consultant Carrie Dils also celebrated the purchase, saying, “I remember Post Status’ visionary era with @Krogsgard, the shepherding under @LindseyMillerWP & @corymiller303, and look forward to its future as a safe place to gather and talk shop.”
Mind Bloggling Facts & Stats
- According to the State of Enterprise WordPress 2024, 61% of enterprise organizations contribute to the WordPress project. That’s a massive increase from 38% in 2023! (Source)
- The 2024 Annual Spam Report by OOPSpam has been released. Can you believe that the USA and China are responsible for nearly 58% of global spam? Yikes! (Source)
- Plus, nearly 69% of spam targets websites that use WordPress, which is no surprise due to its popularity. Make sure your site is secure and up-to-date, folks! (Source)
- Based on this survey, 84% of people are correct in thinking it’s pronounced GIF (as in gift) and not JIF (as in giraffe). The other 16% of people are wrong. #fightme (Source)
Blogs & Resources You Shouldn’t Miss
Is your 2025 goal to finally get your workflows more organized this year? Abby Wood’s in-depth round-up on project management tools you’ll actually use might help. | Wondering whether or not you should take on that professional opportunity? This simple test gives you the answer. | That client on the other side of the world wants to schedule a call? This is probably the best visualizer we’ve seen for figuring out a time that works for both of you. | The deadline for nominations for Core Team Reps for 2025 is January 31st, so head here to nominate folks (or yourself!)
Coffee Break Distractions
Got young ones and wanna teach em’ to code? Scratch is a pretty amazing kids coding resource.
You might think you’re speedy on the keys, but how fast CAN you type? Get your WPM here.
When you’ve found the perfect thing to watch, this is what you’ll look like, probably.
And finally, my dream car doesn’t exi…. (Wait for the rear view mirror harmonica!) 
